Women of Japanese Urban Legends & Folklore
Tried my best. The shading could be better, but I did this on a really large piece of thick paper, so it was a bit hard to shade properly. All four are pencil on paper. The following are from Japanese urban legends passed down both orally and through written stories over the years, some of these legends (like Hanako-san) coming from past stories about dieties. A lot of these stories also connect back to Japanese Buddhist beliefs which is also pretty cool. These women I included are Kuchisake Onna (Legend of the Split-Mouthed Woman), Hanako-san (Hanako of the Toilet), Hachishakusama (Eight-Foot-Tall Woman), and Kashima Reiko (Teke Teke).
Sidenote, Teke Teke is sometimes considered separate from Kashima Reiko, but both are said to be onryō (a vengeful spirit) of women cut in half by trains. Sometimes they are considered one entity though, which is how I portrayed them here.